


Black-Violet and Vivid White

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [30]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1950s, Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen, original character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 04:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The whispers at the door, the worried expressions on the faces of his friends, never impinge on his senses</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black-Violet and Vivid White

**Author's Note:**

> Henri Merdeux, after the birth of his daughter and death of his first wife  
> Prompt: Whimsical  
> Alternate Universe: With the Purest Intentions

The frost-patterns on the windows are whimsical swirls and figures, enchanted to remain until the snow melts. Henri is very tempted to break the windows just to destroy the spell, but at the same time, he wishes he could preserve it forever. The last spell his Rhonwen ever cast, so their unborn child would have beauty all around when it was born.

She was born.

His little daughter, his tiny Antigone, who will never know her mother.

Henri's jaw clenches, and he reaches for his wand, only to find it gone. Remembers then that Tom had taken it, while Minerva took care of Antigone, and Merideth and Morrigan did what they could. Washed Rhonwen's body, made her ready to be taken to the mausoleum in an over-grown corner of the property. To be buried in the cold of an unforgiving winter.

He turns away from the windows, staring instead into the fire roaring on the hearth. It wavers a moment, and he blinks, feeling tears roll down his cheeks. He refuses to sit, though, refuses to let himself waver and fall to his knees like he wants to. Refuses to scream to an uncaring world, or break everything around him.

The log on the fire explodes in a shower of sparks and splinters, though it never reaches him, never reaches beyond the hearth. The spells are too old and well-established to be overcome even by magic let free of control by grief. Henri curls his hands into tight fists, clamping down on his control. He will not let himself turn into a danger, cannot.

The whispers at the door, the worried expressions on the faces of his friends, never impinge on his senses, only the room which he'd helped to make a nursery for the child Rhonwen had so looked forward to. Barely aware of his magic surging half out of control about him, limning everything in an eerie shade of black-violet and vivid white.

Fighting his grief and rage, ignoring the passage of time and the demands of his body until he collapses in exhaustion.

**Author's Note:**

> Henri Merdeux was Head Boy during Tom Riddle's fourth year, and is one of the earliest supporters of the young man who would become Lord Voldemort. He is later known as Baron Merdeux, and known for his fondness for the macabre, particularly the use of human skulls for port-keys. Those who are his close friends suspect some of that is due to the loss of his beloved first wife.


End file.
